U.S. stock futures edged marginally higher Wednesday, searching for significant direction ahead of the release of mega-cap tech earnings and a much-anticipated Fed interest rate decision.
At 06:35 ET (10:35 GMT), Dow Jones Futures gained 80 points, or 0.2%, higher, S&P 500 Futures inched 15 points, or 0.2%, higher and Nasdaq 100 Futures gained 95 points, or 0.4%.
All three major U.S. stock indexes posted record closing highs on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 rising 0.2%, topped 6,900 for the first time ever intraday, putting it on the cusp of a major milestone at 7,000. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3% and NASDAQ Composite jumped 0.8%.
Global sentiment has been boosted by news that U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to meet later this week, with negotiators finalizing a framework to avert new tariffs and sanctions.
Fed set to ease The Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting ends later in the session, with a quarter-point rate cut all but priced in.
A prolonged government shutdown has left the Fed without most economic data, including the widely-watched monthly jobs report, to guage the health of the U.S. economy. As such, a lot of the interest will be on comments from Chair Jerome Powell for insight into how the central bank perceives the economy and the likely path of monetary policy.
Also in focus will be whether the central bank finally announces an end to its long-running balance sheet reduction program, known as quantitative tightening.
